Before Chili Peppers bassist came clean about the band's unplugged performance, Rose wrote a sarcastic op-ed piece for "Billboard," saying he would give the band the benefit of the doubt and theorized that Flea could have possibly invented a microchip installed in his posterior, to pick up and transmit the frequencies of his amplifier.

After Flea 'fessed up to the mime, Rose followed up on Twitter:

Oh well, so much for science! But hey, they still got that karaoke thing going for 'em! Awesome! They're (cont) http://t.co/sH544GkCgY

Axl also compared the Chili Peppers' performance to the sign language interpreter who was outed for signing gibberish at the memorial for late South African leader Nelson Mandela in December. He said, "They're right up there with the sign language guy, whose deep n' heartfelt dedication, absolute total commitment, conviction, absence of sanity, and ultimate public achievement should not b forgotten!"